Intel's Project Athena aims for laptops with both power and battery life
Maybe you'll reach for your PC instead of your phone.
- Shankland covered the tech industry for more than 25 years and was a science writer for five years before that. He has deep expertise in microprocessors, digital photography, computer hardware and software, internet standards, web technology, and more.
PCs are dogged by tradeoffs. It's hard to use your laptop all day on battery, get real work done during a two-minute break waiting for your train, or work hard when you're not plugged into an electrical outlet.
Intel noticed.
The giant chipmaker is leading a multi-company, multiyear effort called Project Athena to address those tradeoffs. Athena's goal: Make us love our laptops the way we love our phones. Laptops meeting Project Athena standards will be fast to process data and play games, snappy to wake up, useful all day on one battery charge and endowed with higher-end features.
The first are due to arrive this holiday shopping season. Thus far the only model we know of is the Lenovo Yoga S940, which was briefly shown off onstage at Intel's Computex keynote.
No longer would you need to be afraid that answering email over afternoon coffee will mean your laptop's battery is flat when you're trying to edit some photos on the train ride home.
Last year, Intel began meeting with component makers and other PC industry players, says Chris Walker, head of Intel's PC group. Athena laptops will be premium models costing $1,200 and up, but some of their benefits should trickle down to the whole market, he said.
The chip giant has mapped out annual improvements for specific measurements, with steady improvements coming year after year. One example for 2019: Project Athena laptops will need to complete a biometric login process in a second or less after a laptop lid is opened, says Sudha Ganesh, Intel's senior director of systems and solutions assessments. An Athena gets an additional second to connect connect to Wi-Fi.
Other 2019 goals call for a "worry-free day of battery life," a screen that's bright for outdoor use, a high-precision trackpad, fast Thunderbolt data ports, mechanisms to let AI software intelligently manage the PC hardware, and network access even when the laptop is in standby so you won't have to wait to check for new email.
Intel is detailing Project Athena at the Computex show in Taiwan along with its coming Ice Lake chips, Intel's first processor overhaul since 2015.
Project Athena and modern PC usage
The project is rooted in Intel's observations about how many of us are using our laptops these days. Many of us use the same machine for personal and work use, perhaps, or open our laptop briefly after dropping the kids at school. Intel calls these customers "mobile go-getters," but really, it's just about anybody.
"It's not just a program about certain specs," said Forrester analyst Christopher Voce. "It's a partnership to create devices people love and get value out of."
Intel's Project Athena aims to improve a wide range of PC abilities at the same time.
Intel knows full well that we use our phones for a lot of what once required a PC. Smartphones "set the bar for what it means to compute when you're mobile -- connectivity, worry-free battery life," Walker said. Athena is designed to make PCs a better choice when on the go.
Project Athena begins with Ice Lake chips
Project Athena will begin with Intel's "Ice Lake" chips formally known as 10th-generation Core processors, Intel said. Ice Lake chips are now shipping to PC makers and are significantly faster than their predecessors, but they're years late, delayed by Intel difficulties moving to new manufacturing technology. They also are only slated to be used in some PCs as earlier chip models persist.
Intel will spend marketing money to promote Project Athena, much as it did with its "ultrabook" effort to get PC makers and consumers excited about slim, fast notebooks.
"Ultrabooks started premium, and it took seven years before 40% of the market hit thin and light," said Josh Newman, Intel's general manager of mobile innovation. "We want to accelerate that."
If Athena succeeds, you'll pull out your laptop more often instead of your phone -- or nothing at all -- so you can benefit from its larger screen, physical keyboard and software. Phone use is important, Walker said, but "PCs continue to be where people go for focus and purpose."
First published May 27, 11 p.m. PT.
Correction, May 29 at 12:41 a.m. PT: The chip model that the first Project Athena PCs will use is Ice Lake. Adds further detail from Intel.